I have received a D- ,two C’s, and two B’s and one A in the first semester of high school for sophomore and 1 C-, 2 C’s, and 1 B and 1 A+ for the second semester of high school. I did well in freshman year. If I do well junior year and senior year, is it still possible for me get into UCR or do I have to look at other options?
You ALWAYS have to look at other options unless the college has auto admit.
Can you get in ? Others will answer and you have to show gpa and more for them to do so.
But look at other options? Yes - 100%. Could be two or four year schools.
Thank you. I have been looking at other school like UC fullerton or UC merced. But I am really worried about getting into those schools. As of right now, my gpa hovers around 2.9 to 3.0
Focus on doing well in school for now. Address the issues that led to the lower grades soph year.
I would also encourage you to remediate the D and C- if those were core/A-G courses.
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Thank you. I am going to take summer school for chem for the first semester but sadly for the second semester I can’t seem to take because it seems to only be only for D/F grades.
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Make sure to speak directly with your college counselor at your high school. That is very important. It sounds as though you live in California based on the schools you mentioned in your posts. California has two different university systems. One is the UC system which you asked about UC Riverside. The other system is the CSU (California State University) system. I say this because you called CSU Fullerton UC Fullerton. Fullerton is not a UC. The best advice anyone on here can give you is to keep working hard in classes. Also, know that you (all students) will need to have multiple colleges that they are interested in and apply to. You absolutely must have other options whether you have great grades or struggled for one or two semesters in high school. Good luck with junior year.
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You will have more options if you can get your GPA back above a 3.0
But even if not, you will have options.
Do you have any idea what you’re interested in studying or doing for a career?
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Another option to go to UCR is to start at a community college, do well there, and transfer as a junior, leaving your high school record behind.
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I have been thinking of being a mechanical engineer and I am interested in studying in engineering
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There are many schools to study this - of varying selectivity - but you will need to be strong in math and physics.
I don’t know your budget but schools like Arizona State or U of Arizona are not difficult admits. UNLV likely isn’t either.
But getting into school and earning an engineering degree are two different things. You will need to progress and excel in math.
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by progressing and excelling in math you mean I have to do that in college if I am reading that right?
There are CSU’s with non-impacted engineering programs, that you could get into even with your current GPA. Chico is a good example - good place to study MechE. Cal Poly Humboldt is another.
There are OOS schools that will work as well, so long as you don’t need in-state financial aid like CalGrant to afford college.
And as ucbalumnus said, you can always start out in community college and transfer to a CSU engineering program.
But if you’re struggling with your grades in STEM subjects in high school, you will need to get that figured out and make sure you have a strong math foundation, if you want to succeed in engineering.
What level of math are you in now, and what are your math grades like?
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What level of math are you in now, and what are your math grades like?
I think what tsbna44 meant was that if you want to do an engineering degree in college, you’ll need to progress and excel in math in high school in your junior and senior years to have a shot.
College-level engineering classes rely on a strong foundation of higher math. Looking at your grades as a sophomore, if your As and Bs are in Precalc and Physics, that could work, but UCR will still be a tough lift because it’s a hard school to get into in general, and they look at the overall GPA as well as your strength area.
But there are great programs where you can fulfill the gen ed requirements of a four-year degree at a community college (if you’re in CA, it’s free) and go to a CSU or UC afterwards — and it’s easier to get into the UC programs as a community college transfer than as a freshman applicant, if UCR is the school you’ve always wanted to go to.
Best of luck Jumbo3.
as of right now I am going into pre calc. I got a C+ in geometry and C in trigonometry.
Just one more thing, is Cal Poly Humboldt and Chico good colleges for engineering?
Yes, they are.
But at this point, your worry shouldn’t be which colleges are good enough. You are going to need to up your game in math, or else engineering is not going to be a realistic plan for you. Getting C’s in high school math courses doesn’t suggest the kind of foundation that will enable you to do well in the advanced math that engineering requires.
Do you feel that you thoroughly understand the math you have taken, and just got weak grades for other reasons? (Not turning in homework or something?)
If you want to work in the engineering field without the level of mathematical rigor that an ABET-accredited engineering degree requires, then consider engineering technology programs. Some of the CSU’s have engineering tech programs - here’s one example: https://catalog.cpp.edu/preview_entity.php?catoid=4&ent_oid=1553&returnto=741
For now, you should concentrate on doing as well as you can in high school. Maybe work with a tutor in math this summer, so that you’re better prepared for precalc in the fall. By this time next year, you should have a better idea where you stand in terms of college options.
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Some thoughts to consider re: your questions:
- talk to the college counselor at school
- a lot of engineering majors require a ton of college math. Like, 3 semesters of hard core calculus, a semester of linear algebra, and a semester of differential equations
- a lot of engineering majors also require a year of general chemistry and depending on the variety of engineering you select, 1-1.5 yr of engineering physics ( harder physics than physical for health science majors)
- If you remain on your current trajectory in terms of grades, if I were to look into my crystal ball, the answer would be no, you won’t get admitted to UCR for engineering
- you’ll need to rock it with the rest of high school math and science classes (like, get A’s and B’s) in order to get into engineering at a CSU.
- What class was the D in?
- many many community colleges in CA have guaranteed transfer programs to UC and CSU schools. You should consider that.
- if you want your grades to remain the same, then continue the rest of high school with your current study methods. If you want better grades, then change your study & HW habits.
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I do have understand the math but the grades i have gotten is just personal issues. Thank you very much
chem was the class the D was in.